Which church leader established the headquarters of Jesus' church in Rome?

Question

This historical fact may shed light on which church was established by Jesus and which were established in protest against the original.

Answer 1

First, the odds are against Peter being one.

According to Peter’s own testimony, he composed his first letter while at Babylon. (1Pe 5:13) Possibly also from there he wrote his second letter.

Available evidence clearly shows that “Babylon” refers to the city on the Euphrates and not to Rome, as some have claimed. Having been entrusted with ‘the good news for those who are circumcised,’ Peter could be expected to serve in a center of Judaism, such as Babylon. (Ga 2:8, 9)

There was a large Jewish population in Babylon. The Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971, Vol. 15, col. 755), when discussing production of the Babylonian Talmud, refers to Judaism’s “great academies of Babylon” during the Common Era.

Since Peter wrote to “the temporary residents scattered about in [literal] Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1Pe 1:1), it logically follows that the source of the letter, “Babylon,” was the literal place by that name. Never does the Bible indicate that Babylon specifically refers to Rome, nor does it state that Peter was ever in Rome.

During all the writing of the Christian scriptures, the city that had the body of Christians that directed the preaching work was in Jerusalem.

It was only when the apostasy developed and the clergy class divided itself for the "laity" and they started power struggles over who was the "head" bishop, did Rome enter the picture.

We know that at Pentecost there were many from all over the Roman empire in Jerusalem, and they may have be the seed of the early congregations in Rome.

We know that Paul was sent there as a prisoner, and the Christian brothers meet him and the army officer and traveled with them on the road to Rome. So, there were congregations all over Italy by the 5th decade.  

Answer 2

I've always heard it was Peter.

The Marlboro Man

Answer 3

several,starting with jesus,james,john and also peter.

your facts have been altered.

Answer 4

Jesus did not establish a church.  Rome was the place of the birth of Christianity, the NT story and the church's headquarters was always in Rome.

Answer 5

The supremacy of the Roman bishop (the papacy) was created with the support of the Roman emperors. With the city of Rome being the center of government for the Roman empire, and with the Roman emperors living in Rome, the city of Rome rose to prominence in all facets of life. Constantine, and his successors, gave their support to the bishop of Rome as the supreme ruler of the church. Of course it is best for the unity of the Roman empire that the government and state religion be centered in the same location. While most other bishops (and Christians) resisted the idea of the Roman bishop being supreme, the Roman bishop eventually rose to supremacy, due to the power and influence of the Roman emperors. When the Roman empire collapsed, the popes took on the title that had previously belonged to the Roman emperors – Pontificus Maximus.

Answer 6

In the second century A.D., St. Irenaeus wrote:

“Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.” (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter III)

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix...

Answer 7

Peter and Paul both preached and taught and wrote from Rome. They were also both executed in Rome for being Christian.

Answer 8

attention truth. the followers of christ were called christians at a place called antioch,(syria), read the acts of the apostles. peter was in rome

Answer 9

Peter went there, and was crucified upside down in about 63 AD.

Answer 10

hmmm,let me guess...peter.too bad the "true church"was already created by jesus.

you've taken your eye off the ball,and have missed jesus' message completley.

Titus 3:9   But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.

Tts 3:10   Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,

Tts 3:11   knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

Answer 11

Activity and death in Rome; burial place

It is an indisputably established historical fact that St. Peter laboured in Rome during the last portion of his life, and there ended his earthly course by martyrdom. As to the duration of his Apostolic activity in the Roman capital, the continuity or otherwise of his residence there, the details and success of his labours, and the chronology of his arrival and death, all these questions are uncertain, and can be solved only on hypotheses more or less well-founded. The essential fact is that Peter died at Rome: this constitutes the historical foundation of the claim of the Bishops of Rome to the Apostolic Primacy of Peter.

bud85348 - Jesus's mission was to eesatblish the kingdom of heaven/God on earth -- the catholic church.  The new Testament is the story of the foundation and eraly formation of this church.  If you don't understand that, you do not undestand the bible.

Answer 12

Jesus had nothing to do with the establishment of a religion or church. His message and life is one we should fallow and it is a shame the Christian Church has not told this truth even to day.

It must be evident that composite Christian theology encounters great difficulty in attaining consistency. This difficulty is further aggravated by the fact that the doctrines of early Christianity were generally based on the personal religious experience of three different persons: Philo of Alexandria, Jesus of Nazareth, and Paul of Tarsus.

The first century after Christ. As a religious teacher, Jesus of Nazareth started out with the cult which had been established by John the Baptist and progressed as far as he could away from fasts and forms. Aside from Jesus, Paul of Tarsus and Philo of Alexandria were the greatest teachers of this era. Their concepts of religion have played a dominant part in the evolution of that faith which bears the name of Christ.

Some day a reformation in the Christian church may strike deep enough to get back to the unadulterated religious teachings of Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. You may preach a religion about Jesus, but, perforce, you must live the religion of Jesus. In the enthusiasm of Pentecost, Peter unintentionally inaugurated a new religion, the religion of the risen and glorified Christ. The Apostle Paul later on transformed this new gospel into Christianity, a religion embodying his own theologic views and portraying his own personal experience with the Jesus of the Damascus road. The gospel of the kingdom is founded on the personal religious experience of the Jesus of Galilee; Christianity is founded almost exclusively on the personal religious experience of the Apostle Paul. Almost the whole of the New Testament is devoted, not to the portrayal of the significant and inspiring religious life of Jesus, but to a discussion of Paul's religious experience and to a portrayal of his personal religious convictions. The only notable exceptions to this statement, aside from certain parts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are the Book of Hebrews and the Epistle of James. Even Peter, in his writing, only once reverted to the personal religious life of his Master. The New Testament is a superb Christian document, but it is only meagerly Jesusonian.